Lesher heiress found dead

Larry D. Hatfield, OF THE EXAMINER STAFF

Published 4:00 am, Thursday, May 15, 1997

1997-05-15 04:00:00 PDT ARIZONA; CONTRA COSTA COUNTY -- Margaret Lesher, the poor Texas cowgirl-turned-millionaire newspaper heiress and philanthropist, has been found dead in an Arizona desert lake after vanishing on a camping trip with her husband of six months.

Maricopa County sheriff's investigators said there were no immediate signs of foul play in the mysterious death of the widow of legendary East Bay newspaper publisher Dean Lesher, although they said they were awaiting the results of an autopsy Thursday afternoon to determine the cause of death.

Authorities would not say whether the body showed any indications of violence or whether alcohol may have been involved.

Her body was recovered floating in the murky waters of Bartlett Lake, 30 miles northeast of Phoenix, at mid-afternoon Wednesday, about 12 hours after her new husband, Collin "T.C." Thorstenson discovered her missing from their desert campsite.

Thorstenson, a handsome 38-year-old buffalo rider and wolf trainer and scion of a prominent South Dakota ranching family, told authorities the couple went to bed about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday.

He awoke and found his wife, who turned 65 on May 4, missing about 3:30 a.m. and searched until dawn before calling authorities from an aid station about 4 miles away.

Deputies quickly found the couple's 12-foot jet boat, 2-1/4 miles away from the campsite on the opposite side of the reservoir. Pieces of Lesher's clothing were on it.

Her body was spotted hours later later by the crew of one of five television helicopters circling the area. Clad in a bra and panties, it was floating in 8 feet of water about 25 feet from shore on the campground side, and was recovered by a diver.

"How she ended up at the bottom of the lake and how the boat ended up miles away are some of the questions we have to answer," said Sheriff's Lt. Tim Campbell.

Did she swim well?

Ann Wiggins, Lesher's assistant at the Contra Costa Times, which was the flagship of the Lesher chain, said Lesher was a good swimmer. Thorstenson told authorities she didn't swim well or often.

The couple went to the lake, centerpiece of a desert recreation area popular in the Phoenix-Scottsdale area, on Tuesday afternoon, the fourth anniversary of Dean Lesher's death.

Setting up camp at Quarry Point about 5 p.m., they had cocktails before retiring for the night, Thorstenson told police.

When Thorstenson awoke five hours later, his wife and the jet boat were gone.

Lesher and Thorstenson were married in Maui on Nov. 7. She changed her name to Margee Thorstenson, and they split time among their suburban Scottsdale home, a Texas ranch and a home in Orinda, where she still went by the name Margaret Lesher.

Her second husband, Dean, was one of California's richest men and most powerful newspaper publishers when he died May 13, 1993.

Margaret Lesher took over as the chain's board chairman, a title she insisted on, when her husband died. She was said to be worth about $200 million, having received the biggest split among Dean Lesher's survivors after she sold his newspaper empire to Knight-Ridder on Aug. 28, 1995, for $360 million. Thorstenson's net worth was not immediately available, although he comes from a privileged background.

Buffalo and wolves

Thorstenson was known for riding and racing buffalo. His first racing buffalo, Harvey Wallbanger, competed against horses and appeared in the Kevin Costner film

"Dances With Wolves." Thorstenson also trained wolves.

One of Lesher's four daughters, Roxanne Gibson, of Danville, said, "We're just completely devastated. We really don't know what's going on. We're just in shock."

She and two of her sisters and their husbands flew to the scene by private jet.

"Everyone is shocked because Margaret was such a vital person that no one thought that she would die any time soon," said George Riggs, publisher and chief executive officer of Contra Costa Newspapers Inc. "There really isn't much we can say at this point because we don't know a great deal. Beyond that we're all stunned and saddened by it. I think it's a great loss for Contra Costa."

She was Miss Peach Queen in San Antonio and worked as a dance instructor and flight attendant before marrying Bill Ryan. They had four daughters before the marriage failed after 16 years.

After she came to the Bay Area, she worked as a salesperson at Sun Valley Mall, then as a meeting arranger for a hotel chain. It was during the latter job she met Dean Lesher, the brilliantly eccentric founder of a growing newspaper chain. She stopped dating John Nejedly, now a retired state senator, to start going out with the up-by-his-bootstraps newspaperman who was 30 years her senior.

After their marriage, he was the clear power at what were then East Bay Newspapers and later became Lesher Communications, based in Walnut Creek. Its flagship, the Contra Costa Times, remains the dominant newspaper in the East Bay. Besides the Contra Costa Times in Walnut Creek, the chain owned newspapers in Richmond, Pittsburg, Antioch, Pleasanton and San Ramon.

But she enjoyed power of her own as vice president for community relations, acting as Dean Lesher's hostess at lavish parties at their Orinda estate, exercising her editorial will on various subjects and becoming one of Contra Costa County's leading philanthropists.

Like her late husband, she had a streak of eccentric quirkiness that endeared her to some but alienated others. Lesherites' folklore is full of such stories as the wealthy couple requiring reporters to serve as waiters at lavish parties at their palatial Glorietta Boulevard estate in Orinda, and of Margaret Lesher having an exorcism performed to rid the Times' newsroom of whatever demons reside in such places.

History of philanthropy

Her philanthropy, accelerated after the Dean and Margaret Lesher Foundation was created in 1994, included substantial financial assistance to schools, theaters, animal rights and a transitional housing center named after her.

Margaret Lesher also was an early supporter of the Yosemite Fund, the license plate scheme to raise money for the national park, and pushed efforts that made Contra Costa County the best market for the plates.

She was an accomplished musician who wrote 40 copyrighted songs and 14 poems. In 1982, the Southern California Motion Picture Council gave her its Bronze Halo Award of Special Merit for her music and lyrics.

A deeply religious person, she hosted a public affairs show called "The Informed Viewer" on the Christian Network's Channel 42.

Besides Gibson, Lesher is survived by daughters Jill Heidt, of Danville, Patricia Simmonds, of San Antonio, and Wendi Alves, of Concord; a brother, Jay Welch, of Texas; and a sister, Sylvia Manning, of Victoria, Texas.